


Day Four: Anxiety

by Authoranna



Series: Comfortember 2020 [4]
Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Enterprise
Genre: Comfortember 2020, F/M, i am so behind but i'm trying to catch up with a prompt a day, this is probably a terrible execution of the prompt but anxiety in space is so hard to write
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-09
Updated: 2020-11-09
Packaged: 2021-03-09 01:49:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27476806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Authoranna/pseuds/Authoranna
Summary: Lieutenant Malcolm Reed, Ensign Hoshi Sato, and Sub-Commander T'Pol explore a Klingon scout vessel stuck in the lower atmosphere of a gas-giant (season 1 Episode 14). There's a brief mention of anxiety by Lieutenant Charlotte Watson, but mostly cuddling.
Relationships: Malcolm Reed/OFC
Series: Comfortember 2020 [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1999417
Kudos: 1
Collections: Comfortember 2020





	Day Four: Anxiety

_So set during/after sleeping dogs when Hoshi, Malcolm, and T’Pol are stuck on the klingon ship in a gas giant_

Lieutenant Malcolm Reed sneezed for what seemed like the fiftieth time since breakfast two hours before. Charlotte rolled her eyes at his back, turning back to the torpedo bay she was working on. Crewman Rostov had caught her expression, however, and sent her a questioning look. She just shook her head at him, not being able to explain why she was exasperated at the armoury officer. 

Malcolm had been sneezing all morning, and it had nothing to do with the myriad of allergies the Brit had. He had a cold, obviously, but he refused to go to Sick Bay to see Doctor Phlox and receive medication. 

Malcolm sneezed again, pulling out a crumpled and dampened kleenex from a pocket in his jumpsuit.

“Enough! Go to Sick Bay, Malcolm!” Charlotte said, putting down the hydrospanner in her hand a bit too forcefully and turning around to look at him.

“Watson,” Malcolm began, his voice dodgy and congested, “I’m fine. It’s just a cold; somehow.”

“To be honest, sir,” she drawled, “your sneezing is disturbing my focus and I’m afraid I’m going to cut a conduit in surprise every time you sneeze.” She leveled him with a glare, one that clearly showed what she thought of him outranking her at the moment. If Rostov hadn’t been there, she would be exchanging some much more personal words with the armoury officer along the lines of “I love you, but get your ass to sick bay, don’t argue with me on this.” She could only hope her look was communicative enough to get the point across.

Malcolm sighed, rolling his sleeves back down. “I told Ensign Sato I’d do weapons training with her in a few minutes. I’ll go to Sick Bay after that, Lieutenant Watson,” he replied. When Rostov had turned back to his work, Malcolm shot Charlotte a look that said “this isn’t over”. She knew Malcolm would have words to say about her disregarding the fact he outranked her to scold him infront of another crewmember, but it was worth it to her if he felt better after a visit to Sick Bay. 

Charlotte answered the beeping comm panel in the weapons bay. It was, of course, Malcolm on the other side. She rolled her eyes as he said to keep going on the weapons bay maintenance, as he was going to explore a vessel the bridge team had found in the lower atmosphere of a gas-giant. 

“You sound better,” she said before he could disconnect. He didn’t answer, and she assumed he hadn’t heard her.

Charlotte slipped into Lieutenant Reed’s quarters as the away team went through decon. It had been a busy day, trying to rescue Ensign Sato, Reed, and T’Pol from the Klingon vessel. The engineering team’s attempts to reinforce a shuttlepod came to naught, as the three had managed to force the Klingon scout ship into a higher level of atmosphere by use of explosions. 

She was sure none had seen her into the lieutenant’s quarters, the corridor deserted for the time being. She just needed to see him without the guise of command structures and onlooking crewmates, to reassure herself he was actually alright. The _Enterprise_ was a dangerous place, and everytime one of her crewmates was in danger it scared her, but even more when it was Malcolm. 

“Maybe this isn’t a good idea,” she mumbled to herself, pushing her jumpsuit down to the floor. “Maybe I was right, it’s too difficult to not allow my emotions to get the better of me.” She crawled into the bunk regardless, pulling the sheets to her chin. 

Malcolm entered the room half an hour later, surprised at the presence of Watson. She had drifted to sleep, left arm splayed over the side of the bed as if she had tried to pull him closer. Her hair was a frightful mess, her usual braid vanished so her dark curls spread over the pillowcase as she faced away from him towards the bulkhead. 

He sat down at his desk, pulling his boots off and setting them under the chair quietly. Charlotte let out a snort, her arms moving as she turned onto her other side so she faced him. She nuzzled into the pillow, her arm spreading back over the bunk again as if hoping he was there.

The Brit slowly pulled the blankets down, lifting the engineer’s arm so he could lay down. He scooted back as far as he could, nearly dangling off the edge of the narrow bunk, so he could see Charlotte’s face. He brushed a strand of hair off her face away from her mouth, which was slightly agape as she snored softly. She stirred at the touch, her eyes remaining closed as she swatted half-heartedly at the hand Malcolm had touched her with. 

He chuckled at that, pulling the blankets back up and tucking them around both her and himself.

Charlotte blinked slowly, mumbling and grumbling before whispering, “Malcolm?”

“I’m here, love,” he answered, running a hand through her hair.

“I was so scared I was going to lose you today,” she said after a moment, eyes searching his face. “Trying to get that shuttlepod to stand up to the pressure, and watching that probe get compressed, and just, I was shaking so bad I had to go to Phlox for a sedative. I did take my pills this morning, you know I do, and you even reminded me before we started working on the torpedo bay, but I still-. I can’t lose you, Malcolm.” She grabbed his hand as best she could, space a commodity in the bunk. “And the last thing I said to you was yelling at you for not going to Sick Bay for your damn cold! Like, what terrible last words to say to the man you love, eh?” 

“Actually, the last words you said were I sounded better. I did go to Sick Bay, like you said. But my cold did save me from smelling the Klingon ship; Ensign Sato said it smelled disgusting.”

“Well, I’m glad that helped, I guess. You know I’m going to get your cold sooner or later, right? You’re about to start an epidemic of the common cold, Malcolm Samuel Reed,” Charlotte laughed, pushing at his shoulder. He nearly fell off the bunk, grabbing her waist to keep himself up. 

“You don’t think Decon cured it?” He asked, rolling towards her so she was halfway pinned beneath him.

“No, I don’t. But I suppose there’s worse things to suffer in space than a cold.”

**Author's Note:**

> I realize that so far all of these prompts have ended with cuddling or involved cuddling in some form.  
> I won't apologize for deciding to give Malcolm the human contact and love he deserves.


End file.
